Google+ Hangouts to Power NFL.com Fantasy

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For the first time, Google+ Hangouts will be featured on another site -- another product. NFL.com has picked up the feature for its fantasy football experience, according to Google's official blog.

Users will be able to trade recipes smack talk during the season within their own customized league, according to the National Football League. The "NFL Gamecenter" exposes G+ to a whole new audience -- and an audience with huge branding cache.

One key addition is that the Hangouts are expanded to 12 participants. Usually, it's capped at 10. From Google:

The +NFL Network will broadcast weekly highlights from some of these commentator hangouts. And of course, you can always share fantasy articles and tips with your circles—either from the NFL’s site, or their newly-launched Google+ page.

Visit NFL.com/fantasy today to sign up, and to prep for your draft via hangout. If you like football but haven’t yet played fantasy, this year’s a great time to start. After all, hangouts help make fantasy football about more than just the game; they’re a great way to build lasting relationships on any given Sunday (and every day in between).

Steve Grove, head of community partnerships for Google+, told The Next Web that propriteary NFL apps are coming in the future. Grove also noted that "fantasy leagues in general are already structured conversations between known participants."

Read: partnership swing zone.

The sign-up process has been streamlined, as well. Users can already use their phones, iPads or desktops if they're camera-equipped.

This whole pairing is significant, as it's not only high profile (Google and the NFL) but it could lead to development of a real-world model of how to monetize Hangouts.